The Acorn's High School Football Game of the Week
Thousand Oaks Lancers (4-3) at Westlake Warriors (4-3) Friday, 7 p.m.
By Thomas Gase tgase@theacorn.com

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers ON THE MONEY- Westlake senior quarterback Nick Owens has 11 touchdown passes and only two interceptions this year.

Paul Miller may be the mayor of Simi Valley, but it's the Westlake High football team that has run the city the last two weeks.

Nobody was happier to see the Warriors leave town than Royal and Simi Valley high schools, as Westlake won at Royal, 37-27, in Week 6 and at Simi Valley, 31-14, last week.

The two wins helped Westlake improve its overall record to 4-3. They are 3-1 in the Marmonte League. This week, WHS returns home to play Thousand Oaks High- and an old friend.

The Westlake/Thousand Oaks rivalry gained a new twist this offseason when longtime Warrior defensive coordinator Mike Leibin accepted the head coaching job with the Lancers, who are also currently 43 overall and 3-1 in league.

Friday night's matchup will be Leibin's first game against his former team.

"There is probably a little more anxiety on his part this week with him trying to prove he is a good head coach," Benkert said.

"I think the Thousand Oaks job was a great situation for him, and he's a got a great team. As for preparing against a coach I've worked with in the past, yeah, I guess it's a little different this week, but I'm used to it."

Leibin said he understands why people will make a lot of the reunion, but he's going about his business the same way he usually does this week.

"In terms of preparation, our mindset is no different this week than when we go against another team," Leibin said.

"The only difference is that this time I happen to know a lot of the first and last names of the people we are watching on film."

One of the players Leibin has studied this week is Warrior senior quarterback Nick Owens.

Besides rushing for two touchdowns, the lefty's passing game was in full force against Simi Valley, as he completed 22of35 attempts for 267 yards and two touchdowns.

Working especially well for Owens was the slant route to senior wide receiver Curtis Peterson. Peterson caught 10 passes for 129 yards and two touchdowns.

"Benkert is running a lot of new plays in the film I watched against Simi Valley," Leibin said. "Almost exclusively against Simi they were using four wide receiver sets, and that's something Westlake isn't known for."

While the Thousand Oaks defense will have a lot of weapons to try and contain, the Warrior defense will also have its hands full.

After holding Simi Valley running back Langston Jackson to 45 yards last week, WHS will now have to deal with another great back in Lancer junior John Lister.

Last week Lister proved he'd recovered from a knee injury by rushing for 237 yards against Royal, including the game-winning touchdown in the final minute of regulation. Lister's output was five yards shy of a school record set by Corey Bowen in 1991.

Stopping Lister will be a top priority, but for Peterson and the Warriors, this game will be about sending a message, too.

"We won last year, so we've had bragging rights for a while, but if we want to keep those rights we are going to have to work harder than ever in practice," Peterson said. "We want to show our old coach that we can still play, and that he made a mistake by leaving us."